Overall Member Rating

Holidays in the Eastern Caribbean

We've cruised with HAL and Celebrity before but we liked the fact that this cruise did both Christmas and New Years and so we decided to give Princess a try. I have to agree with much of what Bahmexpan wrote in their review especially about the smoking...people are smoking all over the ship and the crew really doesn't care.

It's hard to believe that the ship was launched in 1998 because the decor generally has a real mid 80s feel to it (all that wood and the pastel colours etc) make the ship feel much much older than it is...hopefully the time in dry dock will be well used because we generally like the feel of the ship (although getting to the Boticelli restaurant is way more difficult than it should be).

Indeed the entertainment was hit and miss (and Princess must retire "Stardust" it's just painful to sit through)...especially when Princess boasts about how young its passengers are!!...all the entertainment is way over miked so sitting and listening to almost any More
of it is next to impossible...and indeed all Ray "Mr. Pianoman" Coussins does is bang on his over miked piano and drive most people away...and this was the first cruise we've been on with no string quartet (again I'm sure that's a Princess thing).

Buy the coffee card and get the fresh brewed coffee at the bar on 5 or 7...the stuff in the dining room is undrinkable (and the cost of the card and the 15 specialty coffees it gets you PLUS all the fresh brewed you can drink) is worth it.

The breakfast buffet is OK but certainly lacks the attention to detail that Celebrity provides at breakfast and after 14 days was really repetitive. Francis and Enrique (our waiters in the dining room were great fun)and the food was generally good but there does seem to be a continual problem with food arriving cold or tepid at the table (several dinners were sent back and new steaming plates always arrived so it is possible). Better wine packages would be appreciated (although we know that this is more a 6 beer for the price of 5 sort of crowd) still more wine packages would be useful and often the dining room doors didn't open until 8:10 (even as late at 8:15) which meant there were often people lined up the stairs (towards deck 7) from 8:00 onwards.

We did try both specialty restaurants - Sabbatinni's was tremendous until the entrees arrived (they were the worst part of the meal) and they seriously need to hire a third team of servers in there as the 6 people working the restaurant cannot satisfy all those diners...the steakhouse was OK but the old Mexican cantina decor (and wicker chairs) will hopefully disappear during dry dock.

We really liked the Princess system of simply 'reserving' excursions and then being able to cancel up until 2 days before port...we changed our minds a couple of times and it's so easy with this system...BUT it means major charges on your folio as nothing can be paid for before the cruise.

Embarkation, disembarkation and tendering were hassle free and without any trouble at all (the only line we encountered was trying to leave Princess Cays)and if we had waited 30 minutes that would have been avoided as well.

We went without many expectations and were pleasantly surprised by much of what we found...we'll certainly sail with Princess again (and I'd like to sail on the Grand again and see what the time in dry dock does for her...the captain did say that no one would recognize her when she 're-emerges')...and hopefully they will fix that "fuse" or "fire" or whatever caused us to lose power and sit for 15 minutes in the Caribbean sea wondering if we were the next "news item". Less

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Cabin review: BBC743 Balcony

As with the Princess the closets have no doors (so that's a bit weird), Caribe deck is the best deck because the balconies are the most tiered (more space) but also the fewest number of people can see you on your balcony and with the overhang you can avoid being seen at all)...we had 'extra footage' on our balcony (C743) but really didn't need it because the Caribe balconies are huge (by cruise ship standards...easily held 4 chairs and the table and could have held more). The cabin is pretty quiet because one side is beside a large crew storage area that no one ever seemed to access and a hall way that was only for emergency exits on the far side of the crew storage area...which meant only passengers on one side of the cabin) I don't know if all Princess showers have the amazing shower head that this cabin did but it was by far the best shower head ever experienced on a cruise ship (the shower is tiny BUT the shower head and the water pressure make up for that "small" fact).

Port and Shore Excursions

It's hard to argue with the white sand beaches, sun and crystal water that we snorkeled in...swimming with sea turtles and then snorkeling over a couple of sunken ships and then time on the beach...it was a great day...about 50 people on the catamaran (so not as tranquil as our snorkeling/beach day in Granada) but a pleasant day none the less (the lunch and rum punch were terrific). The island is much more developed, much more popular and as a result you don't get a sense of peace and quiet like on some of the other islands (for example there were 4 tours all 'swimming with the sea turtles' which is less than ideal). We were there on December 27 and apparently most of downtown was closed (in lieu of Christmas and/or Boxing day)and no one on the ship told anyone that until after they had taken the bus downtown!

Snorkeling and beach excursion with only 12 other people it was almost like a private event...the snorkeling would have been better if the sea had been calmer (but not their fault) by the time we reached the beach the sun was glorious and we had a lovely lunch, swim and sail back to town. We were there on a Sunday and much of the port town is closed for Sunday but except for the spice market it's not an overly commercial port anyway...developed but not over developed with some great recreational areas.

OK the cloudy cool rain didn't help but our 'eco tour' (snorkel, kayak and hike) was run by a collection of not over helpful (or really friendly) people...the tour was advertised as being good for beginners BUT IT'S NOT...over a mile kayak (each way on open water) and the small children on our tour were having NO fun by the time they got to the snorkel site. The town itself is really developed (Wendy's, McDonald's and Hooters) all within walking distance of the ship and since it's one of the the last duty free ports that most ships stop at the 'Diamond International' shops are everywhere (as are liquor stores and perfume shops)...I guess it could be a shoppers dream but it seemed more like a nightmare.

Duty and tax free prices for cologne were better here than at any other port we checked (Antigua and Barbados) BUT they were identical to the prices charged at the boutique on board...so it's not really worth the hassle...just buy on board!

Not everyone is going to like this port as it's not very developed (only 50 cruise ships a year) and most of the town seems much poorer than many of the other ports that were a part of the itinerary. That being said, it's a lush, tropical island that is full of stunning views and vistas. We did the tour of the Botanical Garden (in the town) and then a bus ride up to the Montreal Gardens (which is almost indescribable it's so gorgeous). The bus ride took us past many points of interest and we covered a large part of the island on our way up the mountain to the Montreal Gardens...really a joy (and rum punch with a real KICK to it). The people were also really, really friendly and we thoroughly enjoyed our tour and our time on St. Vincent (although it was hot and very, very humid) so pack light;-)